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Pandora Shares Rise On Report That CEO Tim Westergren Will Leave

Pandora Shares Rise On Report That CEO Tim Westergren Will Leave

Frances Clayton | June 27, 2017, 7:18

Pandora Shares Rise On Report That CEO Tim Westergren Will Leave

The company hasn't selected a replacement for Westergren, who plans to stay on at Pandora until a new CEO is in place, according to the report.

Streaming music service Pandora Media (P) saw its stock rise on Monday on an analyst upgrade and a news report that its chief executive plans to step down. Prior to the co-founder leading the company, the position was filled by various professional managers.

Pandora hasn't commented on the matter, but there has been speculation for months that Westergren could be on the way out as CEO.

Oakland, Calif. -based Pandora has been struggling as Spotify and Apple's (AAPL) Apple Music grow in prominence in the on-demand streaming music sector. Pandora announced a $10-a-month on-demand service for listeners earlier this year.

Many investors believe Pandora needs to be part of a larger company to deal with tough competition from Spotify, Apple, Amazon and Tidal, the service backed by Jay-Z. The company had 31.6 million subscribers at the end of Q1 of 2017, and expects to add 1.3 million paying subscribers in 2017. Pandora reported a $132.3 million net loss in Q1, up 14.9%, on revenues of $316.0 million, up 6.3%. For more information on Pandora, visit the IBD Stock Checkup.

He's also had to deal with a wobbly stock price and a steady drumbeat of acquisition rumors, the latter of which has since quieted after SiriusXM announced June 9 that it will make $480 million strategic cash investment in the company, amounting to a 16 percent stake. Pandora is also staffed by many Westergren loyalists who share his artist-friendly ethos.

That tradeoff is worth taking, though, Hargreaves noted.

Eventbrite will now have access to Ticketfly's integration with Pandora and the official offloading of the company allows Pandora to open its platform to other ticketers like Ticketmaster and AXS.